Virginia Legislature Urged to Oppose TNR

On February 27, TWS wrote to members of the Virginia House of Representatives Agriculture Subcommittee in strong opposition of SB 359, which would allow the establishment of trap-neuter-release (TNR) programs in Virginia and exempt program participants of the legal responsibilities of cat ownership. TWS is concerned about the effects of implementing TNR as the accepted method of feral cat control because of the serious harm it poses to native wildlife and potential negative effects on human health. Feral cats are non-native predators that prey on native wildlife and can be a vector for spreading diseases and parasites to human and wildlife populations. On February 8, The Virginia State Senate passed SB 359 but the measure was later rejected by the House after receiving oral and written testimony in opposition to the legislation.

Environment Committee MEETING Sun Hunt, etc.; Animal Rights msg

Environment Committee MEETING AGENDA   Wednesday, March 21, 2012   1:30 PM in Room 2D of the LOB

III. BILLS FOR FINAL ACTION

1. S.B. No. 83 (RAISED) AN ACT AUTHORIZING BOW AND ARROW HUNTING ON SUNDAY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. JFS

2. S.B. No. 92 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE DISPOSAL AND COLLECTION OF UNUSED MEDICATION. JFS

3. S.B. No. 267 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING CLEAN AND ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES. JF ◊ Finance, Revenue and Bonding

4. S.B. No. 347 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE'S OPEN SPACE PLAN. JF

5. S.B. No. 348 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING WATER CONSERVATION. JF

6. S.B. No. 351 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING CERTAIN CEMETERY EROSION MITIGATION EFFORTS WITHIN THE COASTAL BOUNDARY. JF

7. S.B. No. 376 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE COASTAL MANAGEMENT ACT AND SHORELINE FLOOD AND EROSION CONTROL STRUCTURES. JF

8. H.B. No. 5116 (RAISED) AN ACT REQUIRING THE LABELING OF FOOD PACKAGING THAT CONTAINS BISPHENOL-A. JFS

9. H.B. No. 5117 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING GENETICALLY-ENGINEERED FOODS. JF

10. H.B. No. 5121 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF ORGANIC PESTICIDES ON SCHOOL PROPERTY AND AUTHORIZING MUNICIPAL REGULATION OF THE USE OF PESTICIDES ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. JF

11. H.B. No. 5258 (RAISED) AN ACT PERMITTING THE POSSESSION OF REINDEER YEAR ROUND. JF

12. H.B. No. 5261 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE HUNTING OF DEER WITH A PISTOL. JFS

13. H.B. No. 5304 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS PAID IN LIEU OF FINES FOR HUNTING AND FISHING VIOLATIONS. JFS

14. H.B. No. 5412 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF CERTAIN VESSELS REGISTERED WITH MARINE DEALER REGISTRATION NUMBERS. JF

15. H.B. No. 5413 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING INVASIVE PLANTS. JF ◊ Appropriations

16. H.B. No. 5446 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING THE PAYMENT PROCEDURE FOR THE STERILIZATION AND VACCINATION OF CERTAIN DOGS AND CATS AND PROVIDING FOR ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER TRAINING. JF

Important that members in the District  Branford, Durham, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison & North Branford call/e-mail Senator Meyer as soon as possible to support bow hunting on Sundays. Call, e-mail other members of the committee (below) paticularly if you Rep./Sen. is on the committee. How to Find Your Legislators: http://www.cga.ct.gov/maps/townlist.asp

Animal Rights Forwarded message.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Julie Lewin <jlewin@igc.org>
Date: Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 5:54 PM
Subject: Call Sen Meyer NOW to stop Sunday bowhunting
To: Julie Lewin <jlewin@igc.org>

CALL SENATOR MEYER MONDAY TO

STOP SUNDAY BOWHUNTING

1-800-842-1420

Give your street address to show you're a constituent

Dear ERP Friends,   

Our State Senator Ed Meyer is poised to support Senate Bill 83, which opens the door to Sunday hunting.  He has huge influence on the fate of this bill, because he's Senate Chair of the legislative committee that's considering it. THE VOTE WILL BE NEXT WEEK OR MONDAY MARCH 26. He will stop the bill if he hears from enough of you and other constituents.

DEEP's hunting division and the hunters' lobby have tried for decades to legalize Sunday hunting. This bill would cross a fatal threshold, so further expansions are assured. I lobbied against Sunday hunting for years in the statehouse and helped defeat it multiple times. I know well Sunday hunting proponents' strategy.

The excuse, of course, is deer overpopulation, BUT:

1. Bowhunting is extremely unproductive, so clearly the intent is actually sport, not to reduce deer density in any statistically meaningful way.
2. It's the cruelest form of hunting by far. Its "crippling rate"—wounding without recovering the animal—is often estimated at 50% by hunters themselves. This condemns wounded deer to horrid slow deaths.  
3. Hunters already have 6 days a week! Their and DEEP's fervent goal is to legalize full Sunday hunting with all weapons in all state forests and private lands where the owner allows it.

"SB 53 Authorizing Bowhunting under Certain Circumstances" would allow bowhunting on privately owned land in zones DEEP determines have high deer densities. DEEP's past the bills would have authorized all Sunday hunting, so they've adopted this strategy to get there.

For more info call me at 203-453-6590.  Thanking you, Julie Lewin

********

Meyer@senatedems.ct.gov; Maynard@senatedems.ct.gov; Andrew.Roraback@cga.ct.gov; Richard.Roy@cga.ct.gov; Bryan.Hurlburt@cga.ct.gov; Clark.Chapin@housegop.ct.gov; Terry.Backer@cga.ct.gov; Paul.Davis@cga.ct.gov; Dan.Fox@cga.ct.gov;  Jack.Hennessy@cga.ct.gov; Geoff.Luxenberg@cga.ct.gov; Robert.Megna@cga.ct.gov; Philip.Miller@cga.ct.gov; Edward.Moukawsher@cga.ct.gov; Mary.Mushinsky@cga.ct.gov; Kim.Rose@cga.ct.gov; Diana.Urban@cga.ct.gov; Roberta.Willis@cga.ct.gov; Christopher.Wright@cga.ct.gov; Elissa.Wright@cga.ct.gov; Kevin.Ryan@cga.ct.gov; Fred.Camillo@housegop.ct.gov; len.greene@housegop.ct.gov; Tony.Hwang@housegop.ct.gov; Lawrence.G.Miller@housegop.ct.gov; Craig.Miner@housegop.ct.gov; John.Piscopo@housegop.ct.gov; John.Rigby@housegop.ct.gov; john.shaban@housegop.ct.gov;

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Alan Huot thought you might be interested in this article

Alan Huot (ctnwco860@gmail.com) thought you might be interested in the following article that appeared in a recent issue of The Wildlife Society NewsBrief . Pythons in the Everglades ! Dogs help track down Everglade's invasive pythons from Wildlife Extra The scenario sounds like a low-budget movie from the '70s: Humongous snakes are on the loose, eating everything in sight. But this is real — a problem that an American university and its canines are helping to combat. Auburn researchers used detection dogs in the Everglades National Park to find Burmese pythons during a recent study on ways to manage and eradicate these non-native, invasive snakes, which are eating native wildlife, mostly mammals and birds. more Want more stories like this? Subscribe to the The Wildlife Society NewsBrief - it's free!

State Rep. Diana Urban

When CT State Rep. Diana Urban couldn't get the Environment Committee to promote her "Ban the Leghold Trap" bill she took it to the Select Committee on Children which she co-chairs !

Now never mind that there has never been a bona-fide report to a law enforement agency of a child being threatened or harmed by a leghold trap, Rep. Urban sees fit to waste the legislatures time with a non-issue. That a child has never been harmed by a leghold trap in CT is testament to the DEEP's already restrictive regulations governing these devices. When are the citizens of North Stonington & Stonington going to wake up and stop sending Ms. Urban back to the CT legislature which she uses to promote her own personal animal rights agenda ?

Ban the LegHold Trap bill in CT Legislature

CT Legislator Diana Urban has introduced a bill in the legislature which is a thinly disguised attempt to Ban the LegHold Trap ! Rep. Urban has promoted this personal agenda for several years, although this time is taking a different approach and introducing the bill through the Committee on Children versus Environment where bills of this nature are found typically. Although there has never been one documented instance of a child being harmed in any way by a legally set leghold (foothold) trap in CT, Rep. Urban wants to apparently SAVE them from even the thought of anything happening ! BRAVO !!! While CT faces high unemployment, foreclosures, violence in our cities, poverty, etc. the list goes on, Rep. Urban chooses to focus her attention on an issue where there IS NO PROBLEM !! General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5324 February Session, 2012 LCO No. 1438 *01438_______KID* Referred to Committee on Select Committee on Children Introduced by: (KID) AN ACT CONCERNING CHILD SAFETY BY RESTRICTING THE PLACEMENT OF LEGHOLD TRAPS. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened: Section 1. Section 26-72 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2012): (a) The commissioner may, after notice and public hearing conducted in the manner prescribed by section 26-67, issue regulations governing and prescribing the taking of all species of fur-bearing animals by use of traps within the state. Such regulations may (1) establish the open and closed seasons, (2) establish the legal hours, (3) prescribe the legal methods that may be used, including size, type and kind of traps and the type and kind of bait and lures, (4) designate the places where traps may be placed and set and the conditions under which the placing and setting of traps will be legal, (5) establish the daily bag limit and the season bag limit, and (6) assess a reasonable fee, or develop a comparable equitable plan, for season trapping rights on state-owned property. Assignment of such rights for specific areas may be determined by drawing or by the order in which requests therefor are recorded as received in the office of the commissioner when there is a set fee for such areas, or the method of high bid may be used. (b) No person shall set, place or attend any trap upon the land of another without having in such person's possession the written permission of the owner or lessee of such land, or such owner's or lessee's agent, and no person shall set, place or attend any trap not having the name of the person using such trap legibly stamped thereon or attached thereto, provided the owner or legal occupant of such land or such person as such owner or legal occupant designates may set, place or attend any legal steel trap in any place within a radius of one hundred feet of any permanent building located on such land. No person who sets, places or attends any trap shall permit more than twenty-four hours to elapse between visits to such trap, except that if such twenty-four-hour period expires before sunset, the person who set such trap shall have until sunset to visit the trap. Any person who sets, places or attends any trap shall report each incident of the trapping of a nontarget animal to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection within twenty-four hours. No person shall place, set or attend any snare, net or similar device capable of taking or injuring any animal. As used in this subsection, "nontarget" animal means an animal of a species not intended to be taken. (c) No person shall place any leghold trap on or within one thousand five hundred feet of the real property comprising a public or private elementary or secondary school, licensed child day care center, as defined in section 19a-77, that is identified as a child day care center by a sign posted in a conspicuous place, state park, municipal park, municipal playground, public boat launch, public road, public highway, roadside rest area, public picnic area, public campground, blazed trail or state hiking trail. As used in this subsection, "leghold trap" means a device designed to close on the foot or leg of an animal with sufficient force to hold the animal until the person tending the trap returns, and includes, but is not limited to, a steel jawed leghold style trap that is either padded or unpadded. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent any person duly authorized by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection from setting a leghold trap within one thousand five hundred feet of such areas listed in this subsection to control nuisance wildlife. (d) The pelt of any fur-bearing animal legally taken may be possessed, sold or transported at any time. Upon demand of any officer having authority to serve criminal process or any representative of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, any person in possession of any such pelt shall furnish to such officer or such representative satisfactory evidence that such pelt was legally taken or acquired. (e) No provision of this section shall be construed as prohibiting any landowner or lessee of land used for agricultural purposes or any citizen of the United States, or any person having on file in the court having jurisdiction thereof a written declaration of such person's intention to become a citizen of the United States, who is regularly employed by such landowner or lessee, from pursuing, trapping and killing at any time any fur-bearing animal, except deer, which is injuring any property, or the owner of any farm or enclosure used for breeding or raising any legally acquired fur-bearing animal who has a game breeder's license issued by the commissioner or a fur breeder's license issued by the Department of Agriculture, from taking or killing any such animal legally in his or her possession at any time or having in possession any pelt thereof. (f) No person shall molest, injure or disturb any muskrat house or den at any time. (g) Any fur-bearing animal legally taken alive may be possessed by the person taking the animal, provided the person shall notify the commissioner in a writing signed by the person stating the species and sex of such animal, the date and the name of the town where such animal was taken and the specific address where such animal will be kept. Any representative of the department may at any time inspect such animal and the enclosure or other facilities used to hold such animal and make inquiry concerning the diet and other care such animal should have and if, in the opinion of the commissioner or such representative, such animal is not being provided adequate or proper facilities or care, such animal may be seized by such representative of the department and be disposed of as determined by the commissioner. Fur-bearing animals taken alive, as provided in this section, shall not be sold or exchanged, provided the person who legally possesses such animal may apply to the commissioner for a game breeder's license or to the Department of Agriculture for a fur breeder's license and when so licensed such person may breed such animal and the progeny thereof, and such issue when three generations removed from the wild may be sold or exchanged alive or dead. (h) Any trap illegally set and any snare, net or similar device found placed or set in violation of the provisions of this section shall be seized by any representative of the department and, if not claimed within twenty-four hours, the commissioner may order such trap, snare, net or other device destroyed, sold or retained for use by the commissioner. (i) Any person who violates any provision of this section, or any regulation issued by the commissioner shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars or be imprisoned not more than sixty days, or both. (j) Whenever any person is convicted, or forfeits any bond, or has such person's case nolled upon the payment of any sum of money, or receives a suspended sentence or judgment for a violation of any of the provisions of this section or any regulation issued hereunder by the commissioner, all traps used, set or placed in violation of any such provisions or any such regulation may, by order of the trial court, be forfeited to the state and may be retained for use by the department or may be sold or destroyed at the discretion of the commissioner. The proceeds from any such sale shall be paid to the State Treasurer and the State Treasurer shall credit such proceeds to the General Fund. This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: Section 1 October 1, 2012 26-72 Statement of Purpose: To restrict the placement of leghold traps within one thousand five hundred feet of areas where children are likely to encounter such devices. [Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]

14th Annual New England Nuisance Wildlife Control Seminar

Welcome to the 14th Annual New England Nuisance Wildlife Control Seminar. Presented by Connecticut Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association. 7:00-8:00 Registration 8:00-8:45 Chuck Phillips, Access Distribution – Chimney Caps 8:45-9:15 Jim Pace, Christian-Baker Ins. Co.- NCWO Insurance Updates 9:00-10:00 Neal Earl, ATF – Explosive Pest Control Devices Regulations 10:00-10:15 Break/ Visit Vendors 10:15-11:15 Rick Shadel, CWCP, S&S Professional Wildlife- Moles, Voles & Shrew 11:15-12:00 Rick Jacobson, CT DEEP – NWCO and DEEP Updates 12:00-1:00 Lunch/ Visit Vendors 1:00-2:00 Janette Dion, Express Verizon Wireless – Using Technology to Your Advantage 2:00-3:00 Jim Dreisacker, Westchester Wildlife, LLC. – Bat Exclusion 3:00-3:15 Break/ Visit Vendors 3:15-4:15 Don LaFountain,CWCP, Integrated Wildlife Control – Beaver Control 4:15-5:15 Rick Shadel, CWCP,S&S Professional Wildlife – Charging What You’re Worth 5:15-6:00 Alan Huot, CWCP, Wildlife Control Supplies – Tools of the Trade Todd Moran, Trap Alert – Electronic Trap Monitoring Thank you for attending the 14th Annual New England Nuisance Wildlife Control Seminar. We hope to see you again next year.